Need some advice on pattering an early season buck

Six-Gun

The landowner at that farm I hunt sent me the following text message yesterday. I am trying to not get excited since there is zero assurance it will show up again during daylight:

"Dude, [Mrs. Landowner] and I seen a monster buck down by the big barn. Actually three bucks together but one was leaps and bounds larger than the other two. I bet he is on your camera. So are we."

Now, while I have incidentally seen big bucks in the early season, I have never actually targeted and tried to kill a specific one. For once, I have one showing up in an area that I have exclusive access to for the first 2 months of the season. The catch is that this one is NOT on the cornfield portion of the property that I hunted last year. He showed up at a barn that sits behind a long, mowed grass path leading from that cornfield past a large stretch of thick woods. My concern is that I have to pass a LOT of habitat to access this area, and the risk of spooking him just getting to this spot on any given day is inherently high.

If anyone had put in the time to pattern and kill a smart, old buck during September/early October, any advice would be appreciated.

Jayhawker

I've managed to do it a couple of times....pre-camera days...It took an inordinate amount of time and I had so focus soley on those animals...learn where they eat, learn where they sleep, learn how theymove between those places, learn what their tracks looked like...I had a topo map of the area and had those movements plotted out...then it was a matter of figuring the best time and way to sneak in and set up an ammbush. On the upside hunting pre-rut you won't have a bunch of hot does messing up his pattern. With both of mine, I ended up going into the deepest, thickest part of their range and spend the day, dawn to dark on the stand. The advent of cameras should simply the process, if you can scatter a few about the area and on the likely travel paths...undisturbed, deer are notoriously lazy and will stick to familar, easy to travel paths...Again...once the does come into season...everything is going to change.....

orchidman

You are still in the USAF?
Don't the Air Force have drones, access to real time satellite imagery?
Go all 'tech' on him.........

Just kidding.

The habitat you mention, is it stalkable?

Six-Gun

In all seriousness, I haven't looked for a new law simce it wouldn't apply to me anyway, but states are rapidly adopting bans on aerial surveillance using drones. Depending on where you live, it's partially to assure fair chase and partially to give prosecutorial leverage against anti-hunters claiming that they are merely monitoring hinters to ensure legal comliance by buzzing a quad-rotor directly over their treestands.

As for monitoring this buck, it's going to take exceptional caution. This area is effectively impossible
To glass, as it sits in a deep-woods meadow socked in by trees from all but a narrow sliver of opening, ony viewable from a different property one which I do not have permission. The best I can really do is stick to checking my present camera at extremely low intervals to minimize the risk of an unwanted preseason run-in with this buck, or possibly add one or two more. I thought about setting up my stand and sitting it for real-time analysis *if* I have enough intel to know when and where he consistently enters, but that also runs a real risk of getting winded back there. I think with one more cam to watch the reverse angle, I may be best served check once every couple of weeks until the season comes and getting my stand in there ASAP after I know where he's coming through.

HAWKEN

Simple Luis, Hide in the barn preferably in the loft. The barn odor will kill your scent and the loft will let you see him coming from a long ways off. Be careful if you are using your muzzleloader that you don't start a fire, LOL........robin

Six-Gun

Hah! You know, Robin - I thought about getting up in the barn, but I have to see if it has a loft door/window to look out from Worst case, I could roof sit. This hunt is strictly archery, so no risk of fire!

Six-Gun

Paul - the bachelor group part is definitely correct for this one. I got to speak to Mrs. Landowner and she said that he was clearly cruising with those two other bucks happily, and they were sticking together while feeding. Better still, she said that their presence riding on the John Deere mule into the barn area did not spook the deer one bit, and all three of them actually walked up to see what she and her husband were!

If I can find this buck back there early enough in the season, before pressure picks up on the adjoining properties and the deer all start going full-on last light/nocturnal, I think I have a shot. I'm heading over to check the cam today. It's been out there for a week, so I am praying it worked after being off for an entire offseason an the big boy showed up.

orchidman

Six-Gun wrote: »

Better still, she said that their presence riding on the John Deere mule into the barn area did not spook the deer one bit, and all three of them actually walked up to see what she and her husband were!

That could be the answer on how to get to the barn without 'winding' the area. Wildlife get used to normal farm activities during their lifetime and, I am sure, they regard the sounds and smell of farm machinery and 'riders' as non threatening.

I have used this technique to get within range when doing pest culls by riding '2 up' on a quad bike, driving past the target species and dropping off the 'offside' as the bike continues on its way.

Jeff in TX

All of my bucks have been running in two bachelor groups. One group has the smaller bucks the other are bigger bucks. They'll stay together and their behavior is very predicable until the 3rd week in Oct or thereabouts. Then the rut kicks in and all bets are off. Mine don't seem to mind the tractor or 4-wheeler's unless we get within a 100 yards or so. Though I bet they totally ignore me when they're bedded down and I pass them not knowing they're there. Trail cameras are the best. I've got a couple on some well used trails coming into my property from my neighbors and off the main road.

Though since my one neighbor high fenced his property last spring, my deer population has been cut well over 50%. I knew I was going to take a hit, just hoping it wasn't going to be this significant. Once the ruts on I'll see new bucks that's I've never seen on camera, it always happens.

Best of luck patterning your deer.

Six-Gun

Well, I pulled the card today, and I DID get a shot of the tall-racked buck...but he was running past, which pretty much negated any good look at him since there was motion blur. I showed the landowner the pic and he confirmed that the top pic is the buck he saw: tight, tall rack. I also have a doe making regular passes during shooting light, as well as a pretty good 10-point.

snake284

I'm with you on this. Wait, I'll find my pic. BRB

Here's the one I've got my eye on:



He was a 10 point this year and looked to be 14-15 inches wide inside the main beams. This next season with all the rain and growth we've had I look for him to be 12 points and 16-17 inches.

Six-Gun

orchidman wrote: »

That could be the answer on how to get to the barn without 'winding' the area. Wildlife get used to normal farm activities during their lifetime and, I am sure, they regard the sounds and smell of farm machinery and 'riders' as non threatening.

I have used this technique to get within range when doing pest culls by riding '2 up' on a quad bike, driving past the target species and dropping off the 'offside' as the bike continues on its way.

Alec -

I got good news on this from the landowner in that he owns an alternate road leading right to the back side of this meadow. It will allow me to drive up very close to my treestand position and drastically shorten how long I have to walk exposed to get to it.




Snake -

That's going to be a good-looking deer this season, for sure. Hopefully, you'll get some daylight shots of him.

As for the velvet buck you see at point-blank range in my 2nd picture from a couple of posts up, I am having a hard time telling just how big he is in the rack. He's definitely not the tall buck that the landowner described and he's too close in the pics that I got of him to get a sure size reference. He's at least decent as far as point count, but I cannot judge his spread without a slightly more distant head-on shot of him.

The problem (a good one to have) is that this place lights up with HUGE bucks during the rut that assuredly dwarf this guy. It almost forces my hand as far as waiting unless one of these regulars is a true prize. That same mindset, however, has bitten me the past few years as far as bagging a good buck: waiting for the bigger one that never comes. Worse, I shot a beautiful buck last year and never recovered him. THAT is a real gut-wrencher.

The 10-point in the pic is a good late season option, if he makes it that long, but with as little pressure as this area sees overall and the fact that he's on private land right now, I think he'll still be around. In the meantime, I'm either taking that top buck if he looks as good as he was described by the landowner, or I'll wait for the rut and take my chances on whatever is running wild during that time.

In the meantime, I'll be looking to take one of the does that has been frequenting that meadow sometime very early on. My stand is ready to go. Now it's just a waiting game for the top of the season.

snake284

Six-Gun wrote: »

Alec -

I got good news on this from the landowner in the he owns an alternate road leading right to the back side of this meadow. It will allow me to drive up very close to my treestand position and drastically shorten how long I have to walk exposed to get to it.




Snake -

That's going to be a good-looking deer this season, for sure. Hopefully, you'll get some daylight shots of him.

As for the velvet buck you see at point-blank range in my 2nd picture from a couple of posts up, I am having a hard time telling just how big he is in the rack. He's definitely not the tall buck that the landowner described and he's too close in the pics that I got of him to get a sure size reference. He's at least decent as far as point count, but I cannot judge his spread without a slightly more distant head-on shot of him.

The problem (a good one to have) is that this place lights up with HUGE bucks during the rut that assuredly dwarf this guy. It almost forces my hand as far as waiting unless one of these regulars is a true prize. That same mindset, however, has bitten me the past few years as far as bagging a good buck: waiting for the bigger one that never comes. Worse, I shot a beautiful back last year and never recovered him. THAT is a real gut-wrencher.

The 10-poin in the pic is a good late season option, if he makes it that long, but with as little pressure as this area sees overall and the fact that he's on private land right now, I think he'll still be around. In the meantime, I'm either taking that top buck if he looks as good as he was described by the landowner, or I'll wait for the rut and take my chances on whatever is running wild during that time.

In the meantime, I'll be looking to take one of the does that has been frequenting that meadow sometime very early on. My stand is ready to go. Now it's just a waiting game for the top of the season.

Decisions decisions! Man! And when one gets away it's a big time gut wrencher. When I see the one in my pic, or that is IF I see him, and I have any wits about myself, he's dying. I had the same problem at first with this one. I have several game cam picks of him but couldn't quite make out his antler count or size until these last pics of him. Then it answered my question. He got inside the feeder fence and gave me several looks from different angles. When they're passing through like your velvet buck, it's very hard to tell. But if you see him before you live I think you'll know whether he's what you want to pull the trigger on or not.

Six-Gun

What's truly irritating is that I got several pics of that velvet buck, and every one of them was too close to tell what he has going on. He's literally mugging the camera trying to figure out what it is, presumably due to the light sound of the shutter snapping. All I needed was one quick shot on him looking at or away from it at maybe 5 yards out, and that would've told me what I needed. That said, if I have any real hope of killing him now or later, he's sure to show back up, as he's going to be patterning through this meadow regularly, possibly with other bucks that were outside of the field of view for these shots.

snake284

Six-Gun wrote: »

What's truly irritating is that I got several pics of that velvet buck, and every one of them was too close to tell what he has going on. He's literally mugging the camera trying to figure out what it is, presumably due to the light sound of the shutter snapping. All I needed was one quick shot on him looking at or away from it at maybe 5 yards out, and that would've told me what I needed. That said, if I have any real hope of killing him now or later, he's sure to show back up, as he's going to be patterning through this meadow regularly, possibly with other bucks that were outside of the field of view for these shots.

After further observation, your velvet racked deer is at least a 10 point. And if he's a 10 point and you have good genetics in your herd it is probably a very nice deer.

orchidman

Six-Gun wrote: »

Alec -

I got good news on this from the landowner in the he owns an alternate road leading right to the back side of this meadow. It will allow me to drive up very close to my treestand position and drastically shorten how long I have to walk exposed to get to it.

Excellent!!!!!!!!

Look forward to the hunting report.